bug#51135: timeout: --foreground causes exit status 124, even if KILL was used

[Pádraig Brady]

On 11/10/2021 19:01, Christoph Anton Mitterer wrote:
> Hey.
>
>
> This time I've also checked the 9.0 documentation (hopefully I wasn't
> just too blind).
>
>
> I noticed that whenever --foreground is used, timeout exits with a 124
> status (instead of the documented 128+9) regardless of whether the KILL
> is sent because of --signal=KILL or --kill-after=n .

Yes --foreground gives timeout(1) more control over the exit status in this 
case.
I'll add some clarification to the texinfo manual along these lines:


-In case of the @samp{KILL(9)} signal, @command{timeout} returns with
+In the case of the @samp{KILL(9)} signal, @command{timeout} returns with
 exit status 137, regardless of whether that signal is sent to @var{command}
 or to @command{timeout} itself, i.e., these cases cannot be distinguished.
 In the latter case, the @var{command} process may still be alive after
 @command{timeout} has forcefully been terminated.
+However if the @option{--foreground} option is specified then
+@command{timeout} will not send any signals to its own process,
+and so it will exit with one of the other exit status values detailed above.

thanks,
Pádraig